More killed on Eagle Ford, Permian Basin roads in ’14

By Jennifer Hiller | San Antonio Express-News

Published 3:09 pm, Sunday, March 22, 2015

Photo: Mayra Beltran

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Rios’ wife Cindy erected a cross for her husband Joe at the site where he was killed in January 2014 after the van he was riding in struck a school bus. The 111-mile-long highway has had more than 20 fatal accidents reported since 2011 - including four major crashes that killed three or four people and involved oilfield workers or commercial haulers. less

Rios’ wife Cindy erected a cross for her husband Joe at the site where he was killed in January 2014 after the van he was riding in struck a school bus. The 111-mile-long highway has had more than 20 fatal ... more

Photo: Mayra Beltran

More killed on Eagle Ford, Permian Basin roads in ’14

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Fatal and serious traffic accidents in the Eagle Ford Shale and Permian Basin increased in 2014, with 696 drivers killed across both regions and more than 8,600 accidents with a fatal or serious injury, according to the state.

Though crude oil prices have dropped, road woes continue in the Eagle Ford in South Texas and the Permian Basin, where drivers are contending with heavily damaged roads, more traffic and a high volume of heavy trucks.

“The number of deaths have increased,” said Laura Lopez, spokeswoman with the Texas Department of Transportation’s San Antonio district, which includes some counties in the Eagle Ford. “We want to remind folks, especially in the energy sector areas, to watch out for those 18-wheelers. And the same message to those in the 18-wheelers, ‘Watch out for vehicles.’ ”

The state is in the middle of what it’s calling a “surge” of road construction in the state’s two major oil fields and is continuing its campaign to encourage safe driving in those areas.

In 2014, 272 people died in traffic accidents in the Eagle Ford, according to TxDOT. That’s an increase of 13 percent from 2013, when there were 240 fatal accidents in the 26-county region.

Overall in the Eagle Ford last year, there were 3,658 traffic accidents in which people were killed or seriously injured, up from 3,446 the year before.

In the Permian Basin in 2014, 424 people died in traffic accidents, up 16 percent from the year before, when there were 365 accidents.

There were 5,029 accidents overall in which someone was killed or seriously injured, up from 4,398 in 2013.

The early-morning hours continue to be among the most dangerous times for driving in both regions. In the Eagle Ford and Permian Basin for the past few years, 5 a.m. has been the hour when more serious accidents occurred than any other time of day.

Men were involved in more than 60 percent of the serious or fatal accidents in both the Eagle Ford and Permian Basin.

Since September, TxDOT has been trying to send road crews, some from other parts of the state, to help make road repairs quickly in the Eagle Ford and Permian Basin.

- Widening and repair of FM 1916 in Dimmit County just south of Carrizo Springs, at a cost of around $999,000.

Permian Basin projects include:

- Repairs of $2.6 million on U.S. 190 in Crockett County, RM 2469 in Irion County and RM 2401 in Glasscock County.

- An 11-mile, $2.8 million repair to the damaged edges of FM 652 in Loving County from the Pecos River to the New Mexico state line.

- In a 2013 report, the Texas Department of Public Safety listed traffic accidents in the Eagle Ford Shale region as among the threats to public safety in state, along with drug cartel activity, human trafficking and natural disasters.

- The DPS anticipated crashes to increase in the oil patch as more people, cars and trucks of all sorts flow into the rural area